[TheForge] Re: Nails

[Mike Spencer]

me>  So I haven't spotted any butterfly nails but quite a few "finish"
me> nails made by putting a smallish-to-medium hand-forged nail on the
me> anvil and just mashing the head cold from one side so that, in one
me> direction, it's the same thickness as the shank.

FredZ> What is the advantage of doing that?

Well, I dunno if I'd do it myself, but from the places where I see it,
I reckon its so that the nail head will sink into the wood flush.  The
long dimension of the flattened head is oriented along the grain of
trim pieces such as the ca. 1/2" or 3/4" thick parts of window casings
and are, in fact, driven in flush. I'd have to go and look though my
collection of hand made nails recovered from the house but I think
they're mostly 6d to maybe 9d sizes.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^